Author: Alastair Otter
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Slim pickings: What Joburg’s bin pickers earn and how long they’ve worked
Known variously as bin pickers, trolley pushers or dumpsite reclaimers, South Africa’s informal waste collectors play a surprisingly outsized role in the economy. Back in 2011 the Department of Environmental Affairs conservatively estimated that there could be as many as 62,000 waste pickers in the country, with about 40% of them working as trolley pushers.…
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SA stock market listings halve over past 30 years
The number of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange today is just half of the number of companies listed 30 years ago. Listings peaked at 669 listings in 1998, but the dot-com crash led to 128 companies delisting within 2 years. There was a brief resurgence between 2003 and 2008 with the introduction of…
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SA inflation down for second consecutive month
The consumer price index (CPI) recorded an annual increase of 5,2% in April, down from 5,3% in March and 5,6% in February. Housing & utilities, miscellaneous goods & services, food & non-alcoholic beverages (NAB) and transport were the main drivers behind the headline rate in April.
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SA’s big e-sports winners
Twenty-five-year-old Ioannis Theodosiou is the top-earning South African e-sports player. His winnings to date amount to $196,451 (R3.7-million). Theodosiou, who goes by the player name JT, won most of his money by playing Counter-Strike Global Offensive. CS:GO is a first-person shooter game. Half of the South Africa’s top 10 highest-earning pro gamers also compete in the…
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Durban harbour delays 2-4x longer than other major ports
Ships avoiding attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea are sailing past the Cape of Good Hope. Neither Cape Town nor Durban have seen an uptick in ships docking to refuel. One reason why ships bypass Durban is because of how congested it is. In mid-April, the average wait time was 4 days, according to Portcast, which tracks global…
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Electric vehicle sales in SA lack spark
South Africa is way behind countries such as the UK when it comes to sales of electric vehicles. Although the countries have similar-sized populations – 60-million for South Africa and 67-million for the UK – the latter sold hundreds of thousands more EVs last year. South Africa only sold 1,080 electric vehicles in 2023, according…